Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie made their debut in the 2023 CEV Men’s Volleyball Champions League and it was a successful debut.
Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie played their debut match in the CEV Champions League Volley | Men. Michał Winiarski’s charges didn’t disappoint and defeated the big name of European volleyball, Turkey’s Halkbank Ankara, 3-1 in Pool B of the 2023 edition of the competition. Aluron is the ninth club from Poland that appeared in the most elite club competition in the ’Old Continent’. The ’Jurassic Knights’ were better than the Efeler Ligi silver medalists by a 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-15).
Due to a small capacity, Aluron were forced to change the venue for their home matches in the Champions League. They moved from the hall in Zawiercie (Hala OSiR) to the hall in Dąbrowa Górnicza (Centrum) where they were supported by close to 3,000 fans tonight. Serb Uroš Kovačević of Aluron scored a match-high 26 points.
The second duel of Round 1 in Pool A (after the win of Jastrzębski Węgiel two days ago) went in the favor of Germany’s VfB Friedrichshafen. In a balanced game against France’s Montpellier HSC VB, the Bundesliga giants reversed the score from 0-2 to 3-2. In the beginning, the French side did well in Germany. They were able to get the lead in a timely manner and preserve it.
The visitors won 25-20 in the first set, and in the second they were a few steps ahead of the opponent. This set ended with the same score. ’Häfler’ was in the abyss, but it was able to react. From the third set the, hosts, who play their CL matches in Ulm, on a ground away from their regular Zeppelin Hall, started the chase and completely changed the situation in the Ratiopharm Arena. The German team showed character and after catching up in the third and fourth sets, they secured a 3-2 win in the tie-break to which they were led by Polish opposite, Michał Superlak (21 points; 4 aces) and Serbian middle blocker, Aleksandar Nedeljković (6 stuffs).
Another French team, Tours VB, didn’t experience the same fate as Montpellier. They swept Belgium’s Knack Roeselare on the road in Pool C, with 21 points from Brazilian Aboubacar Dramé Neto ’Abouba’.
The current two-time runners-up of the Champions League, Italy’s Trentino Itas, dominated the rival in their first match in the new campaign. Belgium’s Decospan VT Menen were absolutely powerless against the SuperLega powerhouse already in the early stages of all three sets of Pool D’s encounter, trailing 7-13 in the first set, 15-20 in the second set, and 1-9 in the third set.
Daniele Lavia tallied 21 points (4 aces) through an 81% attack (17/21, blocked once) for Trentino. Gabriele Nelli made 4 blocks.
Check out the report from yesterday’s matches.
CEV Champions League Volley 2023 | Men – group stage, Round 1:
